Home and Away

Doesn’t time fly? We have moved into our apartment and it is starting to feel more homely. It overlooks the Water of Leith and just like Dunedin, but unlike Bristol, we have no boats going by. I kind of miss them as they gave a little life to the waterside. Here the bridge nearer the harbour is too low to allow any but small boats and submarines up to us. A bit of an oversight that.

We’ve had no hot water until yesterday for some reason, and the washing machine doesn’t work so my undies situation is getting desperate. J threw me some of hers this morning, but I’ll turn all mine inside out before resorting to that. Hopefully the electrician is coming tomorrow, but we all know how reliable they can be.

We mentioned the parking ticket to the letting agents and they pointed out that we were parked in a greenway that kicks in at 4.00pm. (Over here the greenway, aka clearway, is the rush hour no parking zone.) Strangely the council haven’t yet twigged to that and are apparently still investigating. I won’t disabuse them just in case they feel they have to reimburse us the L30 fine.

I’ve been transferring from one laptop to another now that J has her new toy. My old one is dying by degrees, so I get her old one which is marginally faster and infinitely more quiet, while she’s been playing on a new Dell Inspiron 1520. Nothing fancy, but quite a bargain. The problem is that I still don’t have enough space for all these pics! Some serious backing-up is required.

We’ve been busy with the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and have yet to be disappointed. Well, there were a couple of 10 minute spots in some showcases we watched that definitely put us off the real shows, but the ones we’ve been to have all been good to great. We went to a drama based on cockpit flight recorder transcripts last night. Aeroplanes aren’t very good at flying are they? That’s the only drama we’ve seen, all the other shows being comedies. We’ve not paid full price for anything yet, and in fact have got over half of them for free! All that entertainment for virtually nothing. (A good thing too, since we have no jobs.)

Speaking of which… The Credit Crunch and general nearing of recession is not doing well for the temp market and the agencies have been a little downbeat about the amount of work available. I’ve sent electronic applications in for several jobs but with 130 applying for basic office roles there’s clearly a bit of competition. Perhaps I shouldn’t put down my ‘Desired Role’ as “Grumpy Old Man”? J is struggling too though her skills are more quantifiable and she’s at least had her CV sent in for some jobs. She’s explained on her blog that Bursars don’t work the same way up here.

I found the Scottish Library today – a smaller version of the British National Library – and checked out its holdings. There may be a day or too profitably spent in there I feel. They also have a map library so I’ll see if they have any relevant Italian stuff. There’s an aerial photo archive reopening in a few months, and there are a couple of Regimental museums that will need investigation. If only I could make money from this kind of thing…

Three young girls were at the bus stop today. Hard looking things about 14 or 15 with the uniform of girls that age – stovepipes, those ballet shoes, or for one some stilettos, too much slap (makeup), over heavy black eyeliner – I’m sure you know the type. They were carrying on in that slightly loud, in your face way of a bratty teen, and were all eating junk food. Then one of the girls walks over to a bin and PUTS HER RUBBISH IN IT. Restores your faith in humanity. 8-)